The mayor asks the government for "immediate" action or threatens to stop the island
Landings continue on the coasts of the Mediterranean. During the night, a boat with at least 450 migrants, which was in danger of capsizing due to the strong sirocco wind, was rescued 4 miles off the coast of Lampedusa.
The tragedy was averted thanks to the intervention of the patrol boats of the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza, who escorted the boat into port.
The maxi-landing on the island, where in the last 24 hours another 500 migrants had landed on about thirty small boats, triggered a new emergency and triggered the protest of the inhabitants of the island led by the former senator of the League Angela Maraventano who sought to prevent the passage of emergency vehicles on the quay.
“We are tired - said Maraventano -, they must be repatriated immediately. We will prevent with all our strength to let them pass ”.
The words of the senator are echoed by those of the mayor of Lampedusa, Totò Martello, “We are on our knees, with these arrivals at the hot spot we will exceed 1.500 admissions. The situation is unsustainable: either the government takes immediate decisions or it will strike the whole island. The administration will directly declare the strike, closing everything. It is not possible to continue to bear these harassments by the government ”.
Already in the afternoon, the mayor of the island had sent a letter to the Tunisian President Kasis Saied threatening to reach the North African country with his boat following the migrants' route in reverse, in front of the boat that has just arrived in port, he cannot hide his anger .
The Interior Ministry underlines that departures from Tunisia fell sharply in August compared to the previous month, even if it is undeniable that in the last hours the flow has resumed at full speed, as evidenced by the bulletin of the latest landings: 30 on Friday, another eight Saturday including the arrival of the 49 transhipped by Lous Michel, the German-flagged ship financed by Banksy, which has rescued 130 migrants in the last hours.
The migration issue therefore continues to be a "problem not resolved by the government" that feeds the political controversies that are heating up this hot summer already particularly tried by the Covid-19 emergency.